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“There is no room for ugliness in fashion.” Part 1
“I’m sorry, I just don’t want ugly people in my clothes,” states Scott Henshall, an outlandish comment that I’m stumped for a reply. Yes, it may appear pretentious and snobbish and superficial, but as one of
I thought I’d start with the good stuff - 9 Blue Peter badges is an achievement any man should be proud of. Was he addicted to the children’s TV show or just addicted to pinning badges on a jacket? Apparently it’s neither, as his addiction lies actually within the art of competitions themselves. Scott boasted of designing “an outfit for the late Caren Keating with Shamrock buttons as well as swimming trunks for Jason Donovan. I won his dog tags, which at the time I was thrilled about!” I can see why Scott. Winning these badges, however small and cheesy they may have been, gave him a thirst for success; filled him with confidence to become who he is today. I like this playful beginning to his career – it’s like a fashion fairy tale with, of course, Scott as the queen.
Pre –Blue Peter takeover, Scott had already shown a naturally artistic flair by gaining an ‘A’ in GCSE Art buy the age of 10. (Insert gasp of shock and awe). When asked if he was nurtured into this way of thinking, Scott bluntly replies “you can never choose to be creative; it is not like a job that you choose. You either have it or you don’t, that is my opinion. It is like having blue or brown eyes, you are born creative and have talent, or you don’t.” This may seem somewhat harsh, but when it comes to an inner talent, I am of same mind. Plus, he knows his stuff, so I fear to disagree.
From strength to strength, by the tender age of 22 Scott became the youngest designer to show at London Fashion Week. Serious pressure, I commented, to which Scott in his adorable manner swiftly replies “It didn’t feel like pressure to me, I don’t think I realised at the time the extent of what was going on. It all happened pretty quickly to be honest.” Who does he have to thank for this…the bizarre combination of Beatrix Potter and sex toys? Yes indeed. It was his quirky graduate collection “Made in
Now let’s hit the hard stuff and discuss the world’s most expensive dress. Made for Samantha Mumba at the Spiderman 2 premiere, Scott explains the inspiration behind the webby garment: “Firstly, I got asked in 2002 to design a dress for Jodie Kidd for the Spiderman premiere, which I took on mainly as a joke. I hadn’t even created eveningwear until then. Suddenly, the next day the photos were all over the papers. Once you cross the lines like I did here, you just have to go with it. So of course, when asked to design a dress for the sequel Spiderman 2 premiere, I had to go one step further.” That he did. By approaching the DTV (Diamond Trading Council) he got referred to Dali Diamonds who had just created a new cut of diamonds that had 49 facets – a web cut diamond (how perfect). The dress held 5 million pounds worth of these diamonds. Samantha only wore the dress for the red carpet; she changed into another dress to watch the movie. It was a heavy and very fragile dress and she could not have sat down in it as the diamonds would have cut into her skin. (Nice image in my head now Scott…thanks!) Scott comments “this dress took my designs more over to the celebrity side which of course in turn gave me more publicity as a designer and my work was reaching a wider audience."
The next big mile stone in Scott’s phenomenal career was becoming Mulberry’s creative Director in 2001/02. With this astounding credit to his name, I could not help but ask how he managed to fill this position. Scott told me “I approached Mulberry myself as I wanted to use their materials for my second collection and as I love the brand so much I hinted about having a job with them. They got the hint!” So it seems part of success is having certain personality attributes: determination, confidence and self worth. Scott revamped Mulberry’s “English Country Spirit” and chose Anna Friel to become the face of Mulberry (a smart move, for sure.) By placing the brand on celebrities such as Victoria Beckham, Dido and Kate Winslet, Scott manages to raise his own profile as well as the company.
Nicola Louise Watson
02/04/09
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